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Survey finds govt offices lack integrity
The country’s fight against graft has been dealt a big blow after a survey Friday found the public sector and the general public alike condoned corruption
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The country’s fight against graft has been dealt a big blow after a survey Friday found the public sector and the general public alike condoned corruption.
Conducted by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) between August and October last year, the integrity survey discovered 30 government offices and state companies providing public services had low integrity scores, averaging only 5.33 on a scale of one to 10.
Responsible for law enforcement, the National Police ranked in the bottom five. Ironically, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry ranked last with a score of 4.15.
The Religious Affairs Ministry, which deals with moral behavior, fared slightly better with 5.15.
“The average score is considered worse than the integrity levels of public sectors in other countries,” KPK deputy chairman Moch. Jasin said about the results of the survey.
During the survey, KPK pollsters interviewed 3,611 participants who were direct users of 65 public service units and state companies across Greater Jakarta.
Despite mechanisms and systems in place to smooth service delivery, corruption among public officers has not changed. The survey found 31 percent of the participants said they were discriminated against by officers for not paying grease money, while 29 percent said the officers they dealt with were used to receiving tips, gifts or rewards.
“The corrupt behavior is supported by the lack of transparency and information related to delivery time and costs,” Jasin said.
The situation is exacerbated by the general public’s tolerance of corruption. The survey discovered the majority of participants considered rewards for public officers acceptable. Of the participants surveyed, 20 percent admitted offering tips, gifts and rewards for accelerated services. The highest reward recorded in the survey was Rp 150 million (US$16,480).
It was the first integrity survey ever conducted by the anti-graft body, which is currently investigating corruption cases involving the Bank Indonesia’s governor and senior officials, House of Representative members, regents and a prosecutor.
Jasin said the survey would be held every year, with the upcoming one extended to 100 government offices and state corporations. The next survey will also look into bribery practices in the recruitment of state employees.
He said the survey would provide the government with the much-needed input for its drive against graft and raise public awareness to fight corruption.
“We hope the preventive measures against corruption will regain investors’ trust and convince them the country is cleaning itself up. If corruption and illegal levies were eradicated, we wouldn’t have such a high-cost economy,” Jasin said. (ewd)
